Carmen Sandiego is an animated action-adventure television series with educational elements, based on the media franchise of the same name created by Broderbund.

The series is produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with WildBrain serving as the production company, and contains a "serialized look at Carmen's backstory that is told from her perspective".

Serving as WildBrain's second reboot of an animated DIC Entertainment series, the series sees many characters drawn from the franchise's 35-year history: Carmen Sandiego herself who debuted in the original World video game; The Chief who took her current form in the World game show; Player, Zack, and Ivy who were featured in the Earth animated series, Chase Devineaux who debuted in Word Detective, and Julia Argent who was featured in Treasures of Knowledge.

[6][7] In September 2024, it was announced that a puzzle-adventure game which visually resembles, and takes "plot cues" from, the series, would be released in the first quarter of 2025.

[8][9][10] An orphan girl codenamed Black Sheep was found on the side of a road in Buenos Aires, Argentina, roughly 20 years ago and is raised and trained to become a master thief by a group of villains who double as the faculty at V.I.L.E.

by stealing things they have already stolen, returning them to their rightful place or owner and stopping their future heists and plans from being executed.

Carmen's friends and team are white-hat hacker Player, who works as recon tech support, and Boston siblings Zack and Ivy, who help her on-site and often act as distractions or operate various get-away vehicles.

's criminal schemes all while on the run from the mysterious law enforcement agency, A.C.M.E., who have set their sights on arresting V.I.L.E and Carmen.

Carmen is publicly perceived as a master criminal by most law enforcement agencies due to the sheer scale and theatricality of her heists.

In season four, after several failed attempts to claim gold, including the lost hidden treasures stolen by the past generations of the organization, V.I.L.E.

On April 14, 2017, Hollywood insider information site The Tracking Board reported that they had exclusively learned of an animated Carmen Sandiego project at Netflix, with Gina Rodriguez as the voice of the titular character.

[14][15] Carmen Sandiego was set to appeal to a wider audience (ages 6–11), plus the parents of those kids and fans of the original series.

[20] The series is produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who own the rights to the franchise after their corporate predecessor Riverdeep acquired the property in 2002.

[17][21] The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the series followed in the wake of Bill Nye Saves the World and Julie's Greenroom.

[17] Finn Wolfhard signed on to lend his voice to the character Player, who is described as Carmen's chief accomplice and friend.

[25] Andy Yeatman, Netflix director of global kids content, explained "We think there's a huge benefit of having a program that parents remember fondly and grew up with.

We are giving them the opportunity to introduce it to their kids and spark a conversation", explaining that while the service pitched reboots of many '80s and '90s shows, Carmen Sandiego was one that "made sense" and "really stood out".

[6][7] In September and October 2021, the official Twitter account for the show confirmed that a spin-off of the series was in the "earliest stages" and that they would share details on the spinoff as soon as they could.

The announcement saw a positive response by the media, who appreciated the throwback, and a return for the Carmen Sandiego franchise to the small screen.

[30] The Rolling Stone thought the TV series' origin story subject matter offers what was once one of "golden age of television's favorite thematic trappings".

[34] Toonzone wondered if the new show would maintain the established backstory of the red fedora-wearing villain, which in mid-to-late '90s canon involved Carmen Sandiego beginning as an A.C.M.E.

[36] Pedestrian thought the trend toward series such as this was a sign that producers were aiming to " trap people in a downwards vortex of nostalgia ".

[42] The show currently holds a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews, with the site's consensus reading, "Vivid animation and creative reconstruction of the Carmen Sandiego backstory elevates this property beyond its edutainment roots.

[46] At the same time, Martha Sorren of Bust also predicted that the fourth season could explore the relationship between Carmen and her mother.

While stating that Carmen Sandiego has returned to relevance with the Netflix series, she also highlights how animated projects "hustle their employees out of sight," contrasting the gains in visible representation with "very plausible worker exploitation."

She cites an example of Filipino company, Top Draw (working on the animation), which fired a whistleblower who demanded proper compensation.

She concludes by saying that in the current series, Carmen Sandiego is a female thief who "steals only from thieves now," and worries about where her character has gone, compared to the original story.